A Mere Ugly Little Creature
by Craycrayskittlez
Summary: Modern AU: A short look at what Eponine would be like in modern setting. At first glance, Eponine Thenardier Thenardier was a mere ugly little creature, but if you looked closer -which few bothered to do- you could see the ghost of what might have been. Marius/Cosette, One sided Eponine/Marius


Hey guys, I wrote this for English class (the topic was suffering). Basically, we had to make up a person and write a sort of story about them, their life and why they suffered so much. Well... this is the slightly edited version (practically the only thing changed is the names) I hope you like it! I haven't got my grade for this yet... so I'm just waiting... -widens eyes- waiting...

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At first glance, Eponine Thenardier was an ugly little creature, but if you looked closer –which few had bothered to do- you could see her beauty that was hidden by a number of things that came along with being as dreadfully poor as she was. Also, of course, being brutally abused by her parents.

She had dark brown hair that was never brushed properly and always looked dreadfully greasy –which embarrassed her greatly-. She had a side fringe that she hated as it always got into her eyes, but Montparnasse –one of the members of her father's gang who was but a year older than her- liked it, so she was _ordered _to keep it. In Montparnasse's words it 'made her ugly little face slightly more possible to look at'.

She always had quite narrow eyes which she hated as she thought they made her look cruel. _Like her father. _They were self-described as 'an ugly mud brown.' They were actually hazel and in bright light they turned to a beautiful light green, or sometimes a golden colour. Eponine used to notice how her eyes changed colour and thought it magic, she had always insisted at her eyes were green, sometimes gold, but after people telling her that they were a common brown she sadly gave up on arguing with them, insisting that they weren't.

She had a skinny figure which she absolutely hated, with numerous bones sticking out. Even beside a model, she would be considered skinny. She had sunken cheeks and her cheek bones stuck out, making her face look quite odd. She had a tan complexion which she had gotten by spending most of her time outside in the sometimes sweltering heat, as being out of the small house which she, her parents, her sister and three brothers lived in meant being away from her parents.

Eponine was a self-conscious six-teen year old –like most- although unlike most she had a cause for being self-conscious. All of the clothes that she owned were from cheap charity shops and were all hardly ever washed, causing them to smell horrible. Eponine owned no perfumes or anything of the like to try to improve her smell, so she was practically doomed in that department.

So yes, Eponine was ugly, but she wasn't always that way. Her family used to be rich and Eponine used to have pretty clothes that were expensive and never worn by anybody else before her. She had rosy cheeks and pretty eyes that always had a certain mischievous glint to them. When her parents lost their money, Eponine lost that life. Poverty affected her. Badly. She went from being a happy child to a sour pre-teen, to a self-conscious, but street-smart teenager with a certain charm to her that she kept locked up and you had to dig deeply to find.

She learned the unfairness of the world when she was very young, she lived it every moment of every day. Except when she was with _Marius. _

Marius was a boy the same age as her who she had met at school before she had to drop out in order to keep her parents away from her siblings.

Marius was everything that Eponine had ever dreamed of. He was the prince that was going to save her from her hardships. He was going to marry her and take her away, far, far away from her parents. But of course, he would be caring and bring her siblings.

Marius was the first person to truly be kind to Eponine and ever since then, she loved him.

He had that effortless charm to him, with his tousled hair and crooked smile. Eponine loved everything about him from his care-free attitude towards everything to his face which was completely covered with freckles. Sometimes, when sitting with Maris while he was telling some boring story about his friends –who liked to call themselves _Les Amis- _she would just stare at his face, trying and failing to count his many freckles.

But, in reality, Marius didn't care for Eponine much and although he was very smart academically, he lacked in common sense and noticing people's emotions. He was completely oblivious to Eponine's feelings for him which deep down, she knew were unrequited. Eponine didn't really mind that he didn't know of her feelings for him, as long as she could pretend they were a couple. That was very easy to do as she was the only girl that Marius ever talked to and he was more boyishly handsome than the kind that most girls liked, so most girls didn't care for him that much.

So, when with Marius, Eponine was content.

Until the day her heart broke.

One day, Montparnasse had come over to her when she and Marius were sitting in a café, talking. After he left, Marius questioned her about him, but Eponine refused to offer any information.

"Stay outta it Marius, for yer own good," Eponine had warned.

"Please tell me Ponine," Marius pleaded, staring at her with his beautiful green eyes…

"_No Eponine," _the brunette had told herself, _"you can't."_

Eponine's lips formed into a smile, not a small smile as it usually was, but a wide smile, a grin. _Marius cared about her, he was worried about her. _

Eponine stood up from where she was sitting and began to walk away, Marius close at her heels. Eponine had turned around to see how desperate Marius was to speak to her. That was when she saw that he wasn't following her, instead he was gazing at a beautiful blonde with pale skin and bright blue eyes who looked about her age.

Eponine narrowed her eyes, thinking that she recognised the girl. Then she realised. It was _Cosette. _Cosette had once lived with Eponine and her family, back when they were rich. Cosette's mother paid for her to stay with the Thenardiers, but all of the money was spent on Eponine and her sister Azelma, as her brothers weren't born yet. They treated Cosette as a slave ever since she came to live with them.

Eponine had been nice to Cosette at the start, but was scolded by her parents and told 'not to be nice to those below you'. So she wasn't nice to her. She was almost as bad as her parents. Azelma, who looked up to her older sister as most younger sisters do, copied her.

"_Out of all girls, Marius had to like her," _Eponine spat inwardly, she felt physically sick. The way that Marius had gazed at her… he had never looked at _Eponine _like that. Just another way to make it worse, Cosette was the exact opposite of Eponine.

Cosette had bright blonde hair. Eponine had dull brown hair.

Cosette had pretty blue eyes. Eponine's eyes looked brown unless you bothered to look closely –which no one did-.

Cosette was tall and glamorous. Eponine was short and clumsy.

There were many others, but Eponine had spared herself the torture of thinking about them at that moment.

Eponine had told Marius that she knew Cosette and could find where she lived and set them up. _She could never refuse her Marius. _She brought 'her Marius' to meet the love of his life. Eponine was ashamed, but she secretly hoped that Cosette wouldn't love him and would think that he was strange and creepy. But she didn't.

After that, the two began to date and Eponine tried desperately to gain Marius' attention. She was so lost in her infatuation with Marius that she abandoned her siblings, stealing money from her parents to but things to try and improve her appearance.

She had bleached her hair so it was blonde, but the next day Marius had told her that she looked ridiculous. Eponine had cried herself to sleep that night.

Another day, Marius had pointed out that her t-shirt was dirty. After that Eponine had went out and bought a whole new wardrobe of clothes. They weren't expensive, but were definitely an improvement from her old clothes. She bought makeup, but Marius had laughed, thinking it a joke and saying that she 'made a great clown'.

In short, Marius had caused Eponine more pain than one could count. Yet she loved him, he was the first person to ever be kind to her.


End file.
